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Omar Khalid, the Taliban commander of Mohmand agency. |
The US military may have conducted its fifth known strike inside Pakistani territory against the Taliban and al Qaeda bases this year, an unnamed Pakistani official told Reuters.
The airstrike is thought to have been carried out inside the Mohmand tribal agency. “There was an attack by a spy plane close to the Afghan border but we don’t have information about casualties or damage,” the unnamed Pakistani government official said.
The Pakistani government recently negotiated a peace agreement with the Taliban in Mohmand tribal agency. Omar Khalid, the commander of the local Taliban in Mohmand and the representative for the agency in the Pakistani Taliban movement, denies links to al Qaeda and the Taliban.
If confirmed, the Mohmand strike would be the fifth such attack inside Pakistan this year. Two senior al Qaeda operatives were killed in the prior attacks.
Abu Laith al Libi was killed in a US strike inside the North Waziristan tribal agency in Pakistan in late January. Al Libi was the leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group and served as a chief spokesman for al Qaeda. Laith also commanded al Qaeda forces in Afghanistan.
Abu Sulayman Jazairi, a senior Algerian operative for al Qaeda’s central organization, along with 13 associates, was killed in an airstrike against a Taliban and al Qaeda safe house in the town of Damadola in Pakistan’s Bajaur tribal agency on May 14. Jazairi is described as a senior trainer, an explosives expert, and an operational commander tasked with planning attacks on the West.
Jazairi is thought to have succeeded Abu Ubaidah al Masri, a senior al Qaeda operative who served as the former operations chief in Kunar, Afghanistan, before becoming al Qaeda operations chief for global strikes. Ubaidah took over for Abd al Hadi al Iraqi, a senior deputy for Osama bin Laden who was personally chosen by bin Laden to monitor al Qaeda operations inside Iraq. Hadi was captured by US forces as he attempted to enter Iraq in late 2006. Ubaidah is believed to have died from complications from an illness.
On March 12, the US military fired guided missiles from Afghanistan into a compound run by Siraj Haqqani, the wanted Taliban leader behind numerous attacks in Afghanistan. The attack is believed to have killed three senior Haqqani network commanders and “many” Chechen fighters.
On March 16, US forces struck at the fortified compound owned by Noorullah Wazir, a Pakistani tribal elder who lived in the village of Dhook Pir Bagh some five kilometers from Wana, the headquarters of South Waziristan. Another nearby house, where Uzbek and Arab fighters recently stayed, was also destroyed in a separate round of missile fire.
13 Comments
It’s about time.
There was also a strike early last week in North Waziristan that destroyed a few houses next to a mosque, but killed no one.
Hopefully, we got a HVT!
I usually stray from spreading rumors and please, take this with a grain of salt but the rumor mill is spinning and some are curious as if todays strike targeted Zawahiri. Reports state he recently married into the tribe in Mohmand and may have been in that area. Would be something wouldn’t it.
Oh god…I really hope so! Could you tell us where you are getting this info from?
Zawahiri is always the first person I think of when I hear about a predator strike.
As always, my fingers are crossed.
Hopefully we got someone worth killing.
Inshallah, of course.
If we got someone high-profile, wouldn’t AQ have made a martyr of them by now? Don’t they run around yelling about it once someone has been hit?
Here’s some more information on what I assume is the same conflict.
The Post: Dozens feared dead in Afghan border clash
(h/t The Strata-Sphere: Another AQ Leader Targeted In Pakistan Tribal Areas – Updated!
Shade,
Dr. Rusty seems to think it is possible.
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/192951.php
It seems plausible that we flushed a covey of Taliban and what we didn’t clobber on the spot hightailed it to some compound just across the border and we mashed them.
That it was in the same are at about the same time as a ground operation might lend some support to the theory that this was us mashing some Taliban who thought they could hide on the other side of the border.
But I will keep my fingers crossed that it was Zawahiri. That would be wonderful.
Iam in favor of chasing them into p-stan until ALL of them are killed. The P-stani’s are aiding t-ban/AQ, feeding them intel about US troop movements and helping them across the border. The bombing campaign should be stepped up, and swine like Haqqani should be hunted down and killed. From wat I read, his whole family is neck deep in this cross border insurgency. If they keep killing HVT’s, thier command structure will collapse.
‘m staying away from these early rumors. Unless you have a solid source I would refrain from posting speculation on who the target is. Too frequently, this sort of rumor makes everyone look foolish.
Add an I to the beginning of that. Typo.
Ditto to what Rhyno said. If you let anybody in Pak especially their army, ISI, or anybody else in the government know a attack is coming it will get to the Tban, AQ in no time. Just hit them and keep doing it so they know there is no where else to hide. Eventually the tide will turn and when it does some big fish will turn up out in the wide open. GOOD WORK TROOPS KEEP KILLING TERRORISTS!!!